While global derivatives regulations are in various stages of implementation, there is a concern that moving bespoke swaps from low-tech, high-touch, bi-lateral voice transactions to multiple trading venues could harm liquidity, according to consultants at Sapient Global Markets.

Deutsche Bank plunged to its worst quarterly loss in four years on Thursday after it took nearly $4 billion in charges to try and draw a line under a slew of scandals and boost its balance sheet without asking shareholders for cash.

Bond guru Bill Gross of Pimco warned on
Thursday that the U.S. economy has become too credit-reliant and
is requiring more and more government stimulus to produce
ever-diminishing rates of growth, much like Japan has
experienced over the past decade.

Deutsche Bank
plunged to its worst quarterly loss in four years on Thursday
after it took nearly $4 billion in charges to try and draw a
line under a slew of scandals and boost its balance sheet
without asking shareholders for cash.

There is a new twist in the London Whale trading scandal that cost JPMorgan Chase $6.2 billion in trading losses last year. Some of the firm's own traders bet against the very derivatives positions placed by its chief investment office, said three people familiar with the matter.

Citing demand from high-net worth retail customers, China Merchant Securities is providing eight common strategies for equities and equity derivatives, and plans to expand the offering to institutional clients in the future.

Dell Inc's founder and
chief executive may pay as much as $1 billion out of his
personal fortune to assume control of the world's No. 3 PC maker
in a leveraged buyout, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday
citing people familiar with the matter.

The ongoing proliferation of insider trading cases at hedge funds points to the need for more transparency into investment decisions and trading processes. One way to stop the pattern is for hedge funds to form internal control groups that scrutinize the links between investment themes and material non-public information.

U.S. law enforcement
authorities conducted an investigation into whether media
companies facilitated insider trading by prematurely releasing
market-sensitive government data, but decided not to bring
charges, a source familiar with the probe said.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group is
close to a 500 million pounds ($785.32 million) settlement with
U.S. and British authorities over claims that some of its
employees submitted false Libor rates, the Wall Street Journal
reported, citing people briefed on the negotiations.

With mandatory clearing of derivatives set to begin on March 13, Woodbine Associates provides a checklist for buy-side firms to assess their readiness for new derivatives regulations, including clearing, execution venues and pre-trade analysis.

Some of the more than $100 million
Peregrine Financial's former chief executive stole from his
brokerage's clients went to pay for his divorce settlement, the
trustee of the now-bankrupt brokerage said in a lawsuit late
Friday against the former wife.

Some of the more than $100 million
Peregrine Financial's former chief executive stole from his
brokerage's clients went to pay for his divorce settlement, the
trustee of the now-bankrupt brokerage said in a lawsuit late
Friday against the former wife.

Spain may end its ban on
short-selling stocks and bonds this week as the euro zone crisis
relents, although controls could stay for bank shares which
speculators targeted heavily during last year's turmoil.

Bank of America has begun
moving $50 billion of derivatives out of its Irish-based
operations into its British subsidiary, The Financial Times
reported on its website on Sunday, citing people close to the
operation.

Hedge fund short-sellers have
hoovered up nearly all available shares in Peugeot in
their scramble to bet the French carmaker will be an early
victim in an industry struggling to overcome a collapse in
European sales.

A federal appeals court
signaled that victims of Bernard Madoff's fraud more than four
years ago might be allowed to eventually sue the swindler's
family members over their losses, if they're willing to wait
longer.

The U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission has selected a criminal investigator as the
agency's new top internal watchdog, a hire that comes just one
day after President Barack Obama tapped a former criminal
prosecutor to chair the SEC.

Hedge fund manager Doug Whitman was sentenced to two years in prison after he became the first defendant in a broad U.S. crackdown on insider trading to take the stand to convince jurors of his innocence.

Italian Prime Minister
Mario Monti called on Friday for an immediate investigation of a
widening scandal at Monte dei Paschi di Siena over the historic
bank's losses of nearly $1 billion in a series of complex
derivatives deals.

A British judge forced Barclays
to identify top executives alongside traders linked to
a probe into rate fixing, naming ex CEOs Bob Diamond and John
Varley and current Finance Director Chris Lucas on Thursday
despite requests for anonymity.